Cycle
by Yukai yami
Summary: Everyone survived, everyone got out, everyone was free. Frisk was living the perfect life she had always wanted. Things could be perfect for only so long. True Pacifist/Genocide routes spoilers. Rated T for language, blood and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Cycle**

 **Summary:** Everyone survived, everyone got out, everyone was free. Frisk was living the perfect life she had always wanted. Things could be perfect for only so long. True Pacifist/Genocide routes spoilers. Rated T for language, blood and violence.

* * *

White. Everything was white. Or black. Were those colors?

It felt like falling. It felt warm. What was 'it'? Her. Her?

Were her eyes closed? No. She couldn't see. Where was she? How long had she been there? What had she being doing before?

Before when?

Now. Now? No. Not yet. Later? Maybe? Then, when. 'When' was 'now'? What was 'when'? What did all those words mean? Had she ever heard them before?

Heard. Sound. Noises. She could hear them. Soil. 'It' was still warm. A voice. A 'voice'? Was a 'voice' a noise? More words. She could hear them but she couldn't understand.

"What are we doing here?"

Who was that? What were they saying? What was 'here'? Here. Now. Now? Who was that?

"I said, _why_ are we _here_?"

Who was that? The voice was familiar. Who was talking? 'Talking'? What was that word?

Air. It felt like falling. Air was in her throat. She had her mouth closed. It was still warm. A _voice_. Her. Her? Was a voice a noise?

"What..?"

She knew that word. She? She, not her. Her? Who was her?

"…What did you _do?!"_

It was warm.

"What did you do to Frisk?!"

She was falling. There was air in her lungs.

"Don't worry about her. She's _very_ safe."

It was her. Who was her? Her was not she. Who was she?

It was warm.

Who was she?

She was freezing.

* * *

It was a perfectly sunny day. The sun was shining brightly, a welcome change for everyone who had to venture outside in the winter cold. There was a warm yet comfortable breeze all around. Everyone was in a cheery mood, getting caught up in the Christmas spirit although the holiday was still quite a few days away. All in all, it was the perfect day.

Frisk felt like shit.

Honestly, the birds were singing, the snow had been shoveled out of Toriel's driveway, she was finally on winter vacation, and she had the whole day free to do whatever she wanted. Why did she feel like crawling back to her room and dying on top of the carpet? _Specifically_ the carpet, too. She didn't even want to reach the bed.

She sighed for what felt the fourth time that day. Her mood felt as dead as a…as a… Oh great, she couldn't even come up with an adequate comparison.

"For the love of— Stop sighing like that! You're sucking the life out of _me_ , too!"

"S-Sorry…" Frisk apologized meekly. She forgot Flowey could hear her from his pot on the kitchen windowsill. He _hated_ that pot with a passion but with everywhere covered in snow, there was little else he could do. The cold both inside and outside grated on his nerves and he always got ever-so-slightly more insufferable in the snow-filled months he couldn't go wherever he wanted.

Three years and he still couldn't get used to winter on the surface. The pitying gazes everyone gave him didn't help improve his mood, either. Ever since he, or rather Asriel, had made everyone forget Flowey in that huge battle six years ago and ever since Frisk finally convinced him to move into her house, everyone had gotten the 'quote' wrong impression about him 'end quote' thanks to Frisk. Flowey had been less than ecstatic about finally giving in to Frisk's demands, and when she introduced him to everyone, they had been slightly put off by his incredibly negative attitude. That is, until Frisk opened her big mouth and told everyone that he was a tsundere. His complete and utter denial of her words only seemed to make everyone nod their heads in comprehension. Ever since then, people would simply smile at him and say "It's okay. We understand." They did _not_ understand at _all_. Now whenever wintertime came and he couldn't sprout up from under the frozen ground whenever he wanted, he'd be _literally_ grounded to his pink pot with the stupid red hearts and idiotic white polka-dot designs Frisk had made when she was ten. And everyone would look at him as if he were a kid who hadn't received any gifts for his birthday. It irked him to no end.

So yeah, he was salty. And hearing Frisk sigh so loudly was even more annoying to him when he couldn't just escape somewhere else. Fuck snow.

Frisk lifted her head from the table she had aimlessly walked to after waking up. With her chin now pressed to the table's surface, she started dead ahead at the pissed off flower glaring outside at the snow-filled streets. She put her hands inside the pockets of the yellow winter jacket she was wearing. The fireplace had more than enough heat to keep her warm, but her fingertips were trembling and shaking. She hated when they did that.

After spending the next ten or so minutes in complete silence, Frisk pulled herself from the table and walked to a kitchen counter to pull out a bottle of mineral water. She opened it with slight difficulty due to her still shaky fingers and walked back to water Flowey.

He didn't have to look at Frisk to tell her hands were shaking. She had splashed half his stem with all the trembling. "Your hands again?"

Frisk didn't stop staring at the patch of dirt inside the pot, trying and failing to let all the water fall there and not all over the place. "Yeah. Again."

"That's three days in a row now."

"Yeah…"

Now Flowey was the one sighing. "Anything else weird happening lately?"

Frisk stared at the ceiling in thought, trying to close the bottle as she did so. She failed. "Can you call a really strong craving for brand chocolate weird?"

"I thought that was called PMS?"

"Haha. I should just let you dehydrate." Frisk finally focused on the bottle and was able to cap it successfully. She suddenly glanced up to look at Flowey with wide eyes. "Sorry."

At his confused glance, Frisk elaborated. "I-I'm sorry I said that. You know what being dehydrated and withered feels like, so that was really insensitive of me to say…"

Flowey just huffed airily, as if he found Frisk's words ridiculous. "If you're getting all apologetic over stupid stuff like that you'll probably be fine."

"Really?"

Frisk asked hopefully, her eyes basically shining. Seriously, what was with her? It made Flowey sick to his non-existent stomach. If he could've face palmed with his leaves, he would've. "I rest my case."

Suddenly, Frisk didn't feel so bad anymore. Flowey might've been rude, but he had the habit of being brutally honest. Besides, lying just to make her feel better wasn't his style. The teenage human felt a wave of determination wash over her. The day was still long and she could do whatever she liked, so she decided she'd take a walk around town. Almost skipping over to the coatrack next to the door, she put on the white woolen beanie Toriel had given her for Christmas two years ago; she slipped on cream colored gloves and thick brown boots. She finished by wrapping a white scarf around and pulling her long hair out from where the scarf looped around the back of her neck. Before she made to grab the door, she took a step backwards and shot a yell towards the kitchen. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Choke on nice cream."

"Love you too!"

She slammed the door closed before Flowey could finish shooting curses at her. Glancing at the sun and feeling the mix of the warm sunlight and chilly air, Frisk took a deep breath and walked towards the park. Maybe she'd find someone there. She gave a wave to Flowey behind the window of the kitchen (she could clearly see how annoyed he was with her) and stuck her hands inside the pockets of her jacket once more.

She convinced herself her hands were shaking due to the cold and nothing more.

* * *

Tch. The little pest ducked out of sight. Maybe it was for the best. There wasn't a whole lot she could do with a useless stick. Heh… Even so, he almost managed to get a solid hit in before he saw Toriel and bailed. He was holding back, but what else was new? He was always a wimp when it counted, no matter the timeline.

Now she followed behind Toriel as she activated all of the puzzles for her. That dumb goat-woman really was much too trusting. Whatever. It all worked out in her favor. She was more used to the areas around New Home than the area around Home. Asgore really sucked at naming places. As soon as she was shown the way forward, she could finally do what she really wanted. She had waited so long for this moment, and everything was going according to plan. Well, except the Reset. If Asriel, or rather Flowey (she couldn't help but laugh at the stupid name, but then the name 'Asriel' wasn't too creative either), still remembered things, then her reset hadn't been a pure one. There might've been some snags along the way, but no matter. That'd just make things more interesting, wouldn't it? She couldn't wait to see how much everyone remembered. Regardless, the end result would be the same. She glanced at the phone Toriel had left her, and saw her eyes in the screen's reflection staring back at her. She grinned wider than she had in a long time.

This was going to be _so_ _much_ _ **fun**_.

* * *

A/N: Two Undertale stories at the same time… Yep. Except this one is much shorter and much simpler to write because I'm writing unrestricted of how the game actually plays, as opposed to Revenge. 'Sides, I needed something with a bit of lightheartedness. All the small child angst was killing my writing mood and this motivates me to work on Revenge.

Now if I could stop switching from 3rd person to 2nd person mid-sentence…

 **Help with the genres for this story, please.**

See you soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Cycle 2

* * *

She saw images. Blurry and filtered. Familiar places and familiar faces. Fuzzy and unfocused. She couldn't see her but she could hear her. Feel her. Feel for her. Everything was her. She wasn't anything.

More faces. Did she know them? Yes. No. Yes? Not yet. They disappear. She will never know them.

It doesn't hurt. It was warm.

She hurts. She can't breathe.

One image is clearer than all the others. It's her. Is it? She sees a reflection.

Red.

She calls for help. She's heard. It's burning.

She forgets everything.

It feels like falling.

White. Everything was white. Or black. Were those colors?

She couldn't remember.

* * *

"what's up, frisk?"

Sans was spread out under the shade of one of the countless trees in the park, just within view of everyone else sitting in the sunlight. This picnic idea had been great. They just sat around, ate, talked and relaxed. Now this was his idea of a good time. Even that uppity flower dude looked to be in a bright mood. Well, bright-er. He still had that permanent scowl on his face whenever he'd pop up here and there, but he could tell; he could feel it in his bones.

Frisk had also been ecstatic, but…

"something the matter, kiddo?" Sans asked once more when Frisk turned around to gaze behind herself. Again. She had been doing that a lot lately. Ever since the picnic started she kept throwing gazes around… and then she'd get back into the conversation as if nothing had happened.

Frisk finally turned her attention to him, as if surprised he had been there at all. "Uhh… Nothing, I think?" She gave one more look behind her and gave Sans her full attention. "Do you hear anything, by any chance?"

"now kid, i might lack ears but i'm not deaf yet." He joked. Frisk shook her head and hands, looking flustered as she always did when she thought she offended somebody. It was way too easy to rile her up.

"N-No! I-I didn't mean it like _that_! I meant if you heard something out of place, or…" she trailed off, not sure how to end her question.

The short skeleton rose a bit, resting on his elbows to look at everyone better. It looked like Papyrus was showing his newest spaghetti masterpiece to Toriel, who seemed to have trouble keeping it down. Sans didn't know why everyone didn't like it that much. Then again, he didn't have any taste buds. "nah, i don't hear anything. don't worry so much, i'm sure undyne can handle any stray bear or the likes that might be messing around."

Frisk blanched at the thought. Yup. Way too easy.

"Hey, NERDS. Don't think I didn't hear my name over here." Undyne popped up between the two, holding a soda can in one hand while the other was over her knee as she bent down to stare at both of them. "Why're you talking OVER HERE instead of partying OVER THERE?" She pointed to where everybody else was chatting around the picnic basket a little ways from where Frisk and Sans had been taking shade from the sun.

"oh hey undyne." Sans waved as best as he could while still resting on his elbows. "the kiddo doubts you can suplex any bear that comes through here."

Oh the look of pure disbelief on Frisk's face almost made Sans laugh hard enough to roll on his sides. The kid was just too easy.

"WHAT?! OF COURSE I CAN!" Undyne stomped back to everyone, ignoring how Frisk tried to not stumbled over her own feet as she followed and tried to clear up Sans' mess. "ALPHYS!"

"Wait, Undyne! It's not what it sounds like!"

Alphys looked up from where she had been typing away at her cellphone. "W-what is it, Undyne?" She barely caught the can Undyne shoved in her face.

"HOLD MY DRINK!" Undyne then continued to roll up the long sleeves of her shirt and take off her boots to leave them on top of the picnic blanket.

The ex-royal scientist scratched her head with one of her claws as she saw Undyne start to march off with Frisk trying (and failing) to hold her back by the waist. "Um… Okay?"

"Undyne! Hear me out! You don't have to prove _anything!_ " Frisk had a look of pure terror. Monster bears and teddy bears and cookies in the shape of bears? Yeah she could handle those no problem. Real bears that slapped fish out of water streams and attacked bees on a regular basis without batting their eyes and could _climb up trees_ like it was nobody's business? Screw that! She _really_ regretted that game of truth or dare in which she admitted she had a huge phobia of wild bears. And Sans was just laughing his bony butt off as she was on the brink of a panic attack. "PLEASE STOP!"

Toriel, Asgore, Papyrus, Alphys… everyone had stopped their conversations and could only stare in confusion at Undyne removing her shoes and Frisk trying to convince her about… _something_. Papyrus was the first one to speak up, as was the norm in situations like these. "UNDYNE, WHY IS THE HUMAN IN TEARS AND PLEADING FOR MERCY?"

Undyne finally stopped for a moment to Frisk's relief, only to pull the human teen off her waist and throw her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The moment Frisk shut up in confusion, Undyne pointed a finger at Papyrus. "The little punk doesn't think I can handle something, and I'm proving her wrong and taking her along to witness me first hand." The moment Frisk heard Undyne mention they'd both be going out looking for _freaking bears_ , Sans lost it and genuinely snorted from the pure panic on the kid's face. That was the expression of someone who didn't believe there was a god and was about to be sacrificed to a pack of ravenous hyenas. It didn't help that Sans was laughing like one. Undyne pointed to Alphys next. "ALPHYS! BRING YOUR CAMERA! We're going to find us a bear! FOLLOW ME!"

"W-w-wait, what?!"

Soon enough, both Frisk and Alphys were trying to stop Undyne from doing something incredibly reckless that would undoubtedly get tons of views on YouTube. A few seconds later, Toriel got out of her shock and got into the scuffle as well. Asgore and Papyrus followed shortly afterwards. Frisk, turning her fear into anger, shot Sans the dirtiest glare she could muster from over Undyne's shoulder. Sadly, it wasn't that impressive. "Sans, look what you _did_!"

The short skeleton wiped a tear from an eye socket and finally stood up. He had been too busy trying to catch his breath to really say anything before then. "relax kid. there aren't any bears for miles around here."

That was hardly any comfort for Frisk. "But what's Undyne gonna do if she doesn't find a bear, then?!"

Sans couldn't stop his next joke even if he wanted to. "guess she'll just have to grin and _bear_ it."

Papyrus' head shot up from where he was currently trying to hold back Undyne's leg next to Alphys. "SANS! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU JUST SAID, BUT I CAN TELL IT WAS NOTHING GOOD. CUT IT OUT!"

"YOU CAN'T STOP ME!" Undyne was still somehow, slowly but surely, marching deeper into the woods even with the combined weight of everyone on her. "Can't suplex a bear my butt! I'LL SUPLEX TWO BEARS AT ONCE!"

"U-Undyne! L-L-Let's j-just think about t-t-this!"

"Undyne! You will unhand my child and you will not bring her along to face a bear!"

"I MUST AGREE WITH HER MAJESTY! BRINGING A FRAGILE HUMAN INTO A BEAR FIGHT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE A GOOD IDEA!"

From Sans' side, Flowey popped up once again from underground and could only stare dumbfounded at the scene he was met with. A few seconds later, he let out an exasperated sigh and dug underground again to waste his time _anywhere_ but there. Sans just burst into laughter once more.

In the end, Undyne could find no bears and ended up de-rooting an oak tree and suplexing _that_. It made a nice profile picture on Twitter. Frisk was too busy trying to stop her heart attack to remember the unnerving feeling of being watched.

* * *

She couldn't see anything, not even outlines nor blurry messes of colors. But she could _feel_ her surroundings. The smooth surface of a knob under her hand. A warm flame that couldn't burn her. The spines of various books under her index finger. Hot socks and tight boots confining her feet. Tree bark held tightly in her fist. Air entering her nose and reaching her lungs. The soft covers of bed sheets. Deep rumblings from deep inside her chest.

She could smell as well. She could smell cheese, plants, salt water, mustard seeds, donuts, dust, lavender, glasses… Only when she caught the painfully familiar scent of butterscotch and cinnamon did a semblance of herself rang out in the darkness. She could string barely coherent thoughts once more.

What was so familiar? What was it? The scents made her nose itch. Did she have a nose? No.

Broken thoughts and fragmented words whizzed by. Some she recognized. Most of them she couldn't.

It was eerily silent for a long time. Too silent.

She felt she should be hearing many things, but all she heard was the sound of her feet stepping on dried leaves and an eerily cheery tune coming from her. She didn't recognize the melody. She barely felt anything. Then her hand grabbed something smoother and less ragged than tree bark. It was light. Light enough to swing around easily. She didn't like it.

What was there to like or dislike? She couldn't see anything.

She heard another familiar voice. She could hear every word, but her mind couldn't piece together what they meant. It felt like hearing a foreign language. There were so many emotions in those words. She felt like crying. It made her want to laugh.

Her grip tightened.

She felt scared.

It was warm.

She felt how warm it was. She could hear crackling flames. She felt fire eat her hand alive.

It hurt! It hurt so much! It hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt—

What was happening?! Her skin was on fire, but there was nothing she could do. She kept hearing words but she didn't understand. She _couldn't_ understand! What could she do to make the pain go away?!

She could smell smoke. She could feel the heat. She tasted the ashes. She heard the cries of someone. She could see red.

She was scared.

It was the time of her life. Her eyes shined reflecting the flames bathing her body and her smile only grew behind her hand.

"Run away!"

Run? She knew that word. Yes. Run. She wanted to run. She wanted the pain to stop. Why was she hurting? Where was she? It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

She hears her own voice. It is small and broken and _wrong_ , but she hears it.

"It hurts…"

She sees green and she feels warm arms around her. She feels water falling on her cheek. She can hear someone sobbing. Was that her? Was she sobbing?

She feels the grip in her hand. The grip is so tight it hurts. Her arm moves faster than she can feel it.

The scream scares more than the pain.

She still feels the heat, the water on her face, the grip on her hand. She can still smell the smoke and she can still feel the pain. The dead silence scares her. Her chest rumbles again.

Is she laughing?

Was she happy?

Why did she feel like crying?

* * *

Empty.

Empty.

Empty.

Everywhere was empty. The Ruins were done for. It had all happened so fast; far too fast to feel real.

The sight wasn't even new. Flowey had seen the Ruins deserted many times before, but never this quickly. How many times had he done the very same thing? How many times had he felt bored and killed everyone in his path, trying to feel something, anything at all? Too many times to count.

He should've been happy. She was back. After so long, she had returned somehow. But things felt different. He had almost died from her killing intent alone. All she had to attack with was a stick, but it felt as lethal as a scythe in her hands.

And her eyes showed no remorse or doubt. Only excitement… and disappointment when he ran away. And mere minutes afterwards, the Ruins were empty.

There was dust everywhere. He hated coming up only to have someone's dust clinging to his petals. It felt like an invasion of privacy in the worst possible way.

What could he do? What did he _want_ to do? Flowey didn't know. He didn't _have_ to risk his neck. He could just sit back and watch or go about ignoring everything. He didn't have to do anything. He wasn't indebted to anyone.

And yet.

He couldn't remember everything, not by a long shot, but bits and pieces slowly came flowing back. He knew enough at the start to know Frisk wasn't that young. She wasn't supposed to be eight: she was supposed to be fourteen. They weren't supposed to be in the underground: they were supposed to be on the surface.

With time, he remembered more and more.

The time Asriel became Flowey once again. The days, weeks, and months that passed by as the Underground became more and more deserted. How he couldn't find his old powers and could barely muster enough strength to move from the flowerbed.

The painfully silent year afterwards.

The drought. The heat. How it hurt to move in the slightest. How he could count how much time passed by how hard it became just to breathe.

And the stupid little human girl, who came to visit him and freaked out so bad she ran to Toriel's house to grab pots she filled with Snowdin snow because the plumbing had been cut down everywhere.

He wasn't grateful or relieved or anything of the sort. No, feelings like those died the moment Asriel was gone once more. If anything, he felt irritation. He should've just died and finally moved on. Maybe there'd be a special kind of afterlife he'd visit that wouldn't be so boring. But no. Frisk had a talent for sticking her nose where nobody asked her to. She fell down Ebott and freed monsterkind without them asking for it. She went to him and saved his life without him asking for it. She wouldn't leave him alone afterwards, either. She'd come around weekly, like clockwork. She'd bring her stupid stories and souvenirs and photos. It was sickening. It wasn't like he could burrow down and just evade her since his powers didn't want to work in that cursed flowerbed.

And every time she came by, he felt even more powerless. It wasn't because of something stupid like guilt or compassion. He could honestly feel weaker whenever she visited. When she got the flu and didn't visit for a month, he felt normal the entire time until she got all better and visited once more. It was another reason to hate her guts. The very air got heavier and…stagnant whenever she came by.

Looking back, that should've been his first clue all of this was going to happen. The feeling following them two years after she 'convinced' him to move to the surface should've been the second clue.

His thoughts were cut short by Toriel's loud, blood-curling scream from behind the door connecting the Ruins to Snowdin. Shortly afterwards, he heard her laughter. It wasn't anything like her laugh on the surface or the giggles she got over the stupidest things like sunny days or family picnics or him admitting he wanted her to buy him mineral water from the store.

It wasn't like he owed her anything. She came by and forced herself on him when he was just fine living alone.

And yet.

And yet…

* * *

One down, five to go. Geez, at this rate she'd be done by dinner. She couldn't help her giggles as she licked her fingers clean from eating the remains of Toriel's pie on the counter. She preferred cinnamon over butterscotch but apparently Toriel had thought it was the other way around. Meh, it wasn't that big of a difference. Hopping off the counter, the human gave a loud yawn and stretched her arms up high. She looked at the sleeves of the striped sweater she was wearing. Stripes were nice but purple was such a boring color… Maybe there'd be something better inside the closet in the room Toriel gave her.

She hummed a random tune as she searched through the articles of clothing. Everything was either boring or was too breezy. She'd be in Snowdin next so she needed something to keep the cold at bay…

…Wait a second.

"Doy!" She slapped her forehead in a joking manner, forgetting a very important detail. She took off her purple sweater and put on a yellow stripped t-shirt and changed her boots for some classier-looking, open toe shoes Toriel had apparently gotten for some other human girl. She walked over to the mirror at the end of the hallway and looked at herself. Not bad! Much better than how she looked. Maybe her hair could use a trim… but she only had the knife because Toriel didn't like scissors. Honestly, you run with them once and accidentally make a gash on someone's arm and they're banned. How boooring…

"Well! It's about time I get going. The world's not gonna wait forever!" she cheerily said to no one in particular. She made to go down the stairs before stopping herself and backtracking to the kitchen.

She opened the fridge, already knowing where to look. She took the brand chocolate candy bar behind the salad bowl and took a giant bite out of it. It was sooo good! Her favorite! She crumbled the wrapping and tossed it in the trashcan like if she was throwing a basketball. She let out a giant holler when it landed inside without trouble. She kept eating the chocolate on her way to the doors leading out of the Ruins, not feeling the least bit guilty. She walked right through the messy pile of dust lying right in front of the door.

It's not like it was stealing if the owner was dead anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

Cycle 3

* * *

Everything was starting to make sense. She could now not only see everything, but the images now started to seem more logical. Hallways, a kitchen, a bookshelf, clothes… More thoughts that would come now made absolute sense but remained confusing for completely different reasons.

She was in the Underground. She was in Toriel's home. She was young again. What was going on?

Despite everything, some bits and pieces were still muddy and unclear. She couldn't remember who she was and she didn't know why she thought "young _again_ ", and she didn't know who Toriel was and why she found it hard to make heads or tails out of everything.

It was warm. Whatever she was connected to was painfully warm, to the point she wanted to scratch it away, even if it meant scratching her arm open to get rid of that disgusting sensation. It felt like uncomfortably warm water running through every vein, everywhere, all over her body.

Her?

She saw dust. She felt a cold chill fight the uncomfortably warm feeling. She was really cold now. She was incredibly scared again but she didn't understand why.

She saw a giant pair of doors. They led further in. Further into the Underground. She couldn't tell how she knew all that. Without realizing it, they opened and she walked inside. She saw a golden flower. She had seen it before; she knew it somehow. She made words without realizing it once again.

"Who… are you?"

A clear look of shock crossed the flower's face. Face? Yes, he had a face. Yes, it was male and it was alive. How did she know all these things?

"Tch. What a bother."

That voice came from her.

Wait…had _she_ said that?

She felt burning hands pressing hard, squeezing. She couldn't move. Could never move. She felt it hard to breathe. She felt like crying. _She was terrified._ Her thoughts were mixing. She felt words slipping away. She was going back.

She wanted to cry.

She wanted to cry? Why?

It was warm.

* * *

Why was he here? Why hadn't he stayed in some safe corner of the Underground and just waited? Hell, why hadn't he just stayed a few steps behind watching like he had done the first time Frisk fell down the mountain? He had to be crazy. What the hell did he hope to accomplish? He didn't _care_. He wasn't indebted to _anyone_.

Yet he still stayed in that spot outside Toriel's basement. The only way towards Snowdin. He wasn't going to stop her. His plan didn't go as far as engaging in battle, no matter how poorly made it was. Besides, he wasn't particularly suicidal this timeline around and judging by how empty the Ruins were, her LV had to be fairly high… Not to mention she probably snatched up the toy knife which was sharper and far more dangerous than a stick. No, he wasn't going to stop her.

He was trying to get some answers.

He heard footsteps approaching. They were casual and soft, as if the kid was merely going for a walk and wasn't trying to kill everyone she met, himself included. Kill or be killed indeed. She finally stopped before him. She was wearing clothes that would do painfully little to protect against Snowdin's climate. That green and yellow striped shirt only helped bring home that this was—

"Who… are you?"

He couldn't stop the wave of shock that slammed into him. It wasn't just the words, no… It was the voice. The soft and considerate voice standing on borderline annoying from how naïve it sounded… Flowey looked at her eyes.

They were chocolate brown. She looked so confused, but there was no doubt in his mind. Had she returned somehow? But Frisk _should_ be able to remember everything after a Load or Reset… Was this a sick joke? But her eyes weren't crimson like—

"Tch. What a bother."

The human narrowed her eyes for a fraction of a second before closing them, scratching the back of her head with one hand while the other rested comfortably inside her pants' pocket. When her eyes opened once more, they were red again. That confident posture and teasingly knowing grin were unmistakable.

Chara was back.

"That's far more pleasant. Greetings, Flowey. How nice of you to stop by." Chara smiled amiably. For a second, it felt like he had returned to those halcyon days from so long ago, when they played together and had fun every day. The almost-feelings were gone in a flash. It was hard to reminisce about his sister when she was carelessly twirling a knife around a few feet away.

"Howdy, Chara." This was not how he ever expected to meet her again: possessing the previous hero of monsterkind years after the book was closed and everything was over and done with. Oh, he had expected the carnage with her return. Heck, it was what he yearned for Frisk to do while she ran around trying to hug everything, when he projected Chara's image onto her. It was kill or be killed. That had been the world's main rule for all those years.

But Asriel had felt differenty. Frisk had proved him wrong by offering mercy again and again. No matter how many times she was hurt, how many times she was knocked down, how many times she was killed… No matter how the adults would scorn her on the surface, how she'd be pushed around by the humans she should've called her peers, how no one could _really_ ever hope to understand what she was going through…

Flowey would never again feel the relief Asriel felt when Frisk hugged him and forgave him for everything, but he _could_ remember how it felt. Flowey wasn't indebted to anyone, especially now when no one had yet made it out of the Underground this time around. But even so…

Maybe the least he could do, in the memory of someone who wasn't him _anymore_ , was talk to Chara. Maybe the least he could do was get some answers. Maybe the least he could do was ask how the dead could come back to life.

* * *

She had to hurry, _it_ was following her.

She couldn't tell what it was, but every single bone—no, every single cell in her _being_ was telling her it was a bad thing.

She didn't know where she was, how she ended up there or where everyone was, but all that could cross her mind was that she needed to run, to get away. It was whispering her name and she could feel someone's hot breath on the back of her neck. She could feel ice-cold hands snaking around her windpipe. Oh gods, she just wanted to get away-!

"WAKE _UP!_ "

Lukewarm water splashed onto Frisk's face and entered through her nose. Frisk bolted up from her bed, bending over and coughing out the water that entered her throat and lungs. Her pillow was slowly absorbing the water that dropped from the bottle atop the table behind the head of her bed. Once all the water was out of her system, Frisk looked at Flowey in his pot… which was lying on his side with some of the dirt spilling onto the table. He looked more irritated than _she_ was supposed to be.

"Wanna tell me why you almost drowned me in my sleep?" Frisk rubbed the water out of her face with the sleeves of her pajama shirt. It was soaked and going in the washing machine anyways…

"Wanna tell me why you wouldn't shut up and punched my pot over in my sleep?" Flowey spit back at her. The bottle was basically empty by now, so Frisk grabbed it and threw it in the trashcan. Darn it, now her bed was too wet to sleep in unless she wanted a cold when she woke up. Wait… what did Flowey say?

"I knocked you over..? I never move in my sleep, how's—how's that even possible?"

Flowey gave an incredibly irritated groan. "Well I didn't knock myself over so if you still have enough brain cells to form words, hurry up and put me back up!"

' _Geez, he's even more testy than normal…'_ Frisk crawled over to him and put his pot right side up, scooping some of the spilled dirt and placing it back on the pot. Since she couldn't find any spare napkins or papers to clean her hands, she just cleaned them with her shirt. It was going in the washing machine anyways… "Any reason you're extra cranky today? You're usually a better morning person than I am." She wasn't being sarcastic, either. Flowey would simply wake up in an instant, without hassle. Frisk usually had Toriel pulling the covers off and opening the window binds as Frisk tried to fuse with her bed for a few extra hours of sleep. She'd always wake in a horribly cranky mood on school days.

"You'd be pretty irritable too if someone pushed you over, _in your sleep_ , and there was nothing you could do about it! Maybe if you dropped dead I'd get some decent sleep around here!" Finally standing straight, Flowey turned completely away from Frisk and tried to fall asleep again. The human girl could feel the waves of negativity rolling off him in spades. Sure, Flowey had always stayed a bit… 'salty' even on the surface (Frisk believed it had something to do with his pride taking a blow when she finally convinced him to move in with her. Frisk was nothing if not determined and after two years of constant visits, he finally caved in), but she thought he had been getting better. He wasn't smiling all the time or anything similar by a LONG shot, but in the least he had been showing some improvement after living in the surface for three years. This sudden reversal into how hostile he had been in the Underground honestly unsettled her more than she wanted to consciously admit.

It's not that he had been incredibly kinder. It was constantly the opposite, but Frisk was grateful for that. When Frisk had first met Flowey, he had worn his practiced and fake smile… The very same one that fooled her into trusting him and almost spelled her doom until Toriel came to her rescue. The same one he used to trick Papyrus into getting everyone together before he stole everyone's souls. No, the fact he bared his fangs and didn't mince his words was what Frisk considered the greatest sign of trust. He didn't hide his feelings, didn't sugar coat his words, didn't lie to his advantage… What Frisk saw was the real deal, and the young human felt immensely privileged. Even Toriel and Asgore received special treatment from Flowey, since he had a tendency to watch his language around them (she believed the memories of being Asriel and getting scolded probably had something to do with it). So when his death threats and hateful comments slowly sizzled out over the years, she had been ecstatic. But now, she could tell... could _feel_ that something else much bigger was bother her somewhat-friend yet he refused to say straight out what it was. He never tried to hide whatever was irking him before... In fact he took every oportunity to tell her how "old her mercy-shtick was getting" or "how weird it was that she could laugh about everything". Sure, if she honestly knocked him over (which still made no sense to her) then he had every right to not be happy, but not to his current extent. Even by Flowey's usual "grumpy" demeanor, something seemed to be on his mind that made him adapt a sharper tongue.

Frisk glanced at the clock on the wall next to the door in her bedroom. It was three in the morning. Yeah, there was no way she was gonna start her day at that ungodly hour. She walked over to her dresser and grabbed a new shirt to sleep in.

As Frisk changed into dry clothes and scooped up her bedsheets, she couldn't find it in herself to push him for more answers nor blame him for his attitude. She had an unsettling feeling that told her something was wrong. The last wisps of her nightmare still tickled the back of her memory, and the deep feeling of dread was still nestled deep in the pit of her stomach. As she grabbed the door handle to exit her room, she heard the rattling noise of metal hitting itself... and glanced down to see her hands were shaking without her knowing. Surely that stagnant atmosphere she felt was what had Flowey on edge… The very air felt heavy and harder to breathe in for both of them.

* * *

Huh. So this was snow. It was softer than she thought it'd be.

Oddly enough, despite the long amount of time she had lived there, she had never seen snow before. It wasn't like Ebott was located in the arctics, either. When Toriel had explained snow was frozen water falling from the heavens, she had been honestly excited. She expected chunks of ice crashing down on the head of whichever unfortunate sap was unlucky enough to be passing by. She hadn't imagined this soft, plushy and boring fluff.

A snowflake fell into her open palm and melted instantly, becoming a slowly increasing puddle atop her palm, leaving no trace of the beautiful shape it once had. A light coat of snow was starting to cover her head and shoulders while her toes were completely submerged, sinking into the sheet laying on the ground. She didn't notice any of it.

Shaking her hand dry and sliding both inside her pockets, more for a lack of having anything to do with them than actual cold, she stepped forward once the door to the ruins slid close with an echoing thud. The loud noise reverberated loudly before her, getting lost among the trees, causing layers of snow to break free from branches and fall to the ground. So these were Snowdin Woods… She wondered how many monsters were between where she was and the actual town of Snowdin. Hopefully enough to keep her entertained. Toriel had put up more fight than she had expected, but it had still been far too simple to cut her down, especially when she broke down into tears and hugged her, leaving her back wide open... Then Asriel—or rather, _Flowey_ (she still found that name ridiculously stupid, almost Asgore-levels of stupid as far as names went) had shown up and, well…

Her bloodlust was still dangerously high.

Quickly bored with the plain white scenery, she stepped forward on her way deeper in. Her surroundings were eerily quiet, and she found solace in it. There was something almost magical about being the only source of sound in an empty road. It made her feel like the only living thing left in existence. Even through the itchy feelings in her hands from wanting to pulverize something, she still felt calm. Serenely so.

She passed over a thick branch, and heard it snap loudly behind her. Another thing she liked about the silence: it helped her find victims all the quicker. Of course, it helped when whoever was behind her wasn't trying to be subtle, either. She could hear the rustling of snow that was out of sync with her own steps, the humming of magic in the air, the shifting of tree bark from someone ducking behind trees… She doubted they were really trying to remain hidden. Probably someone trying to scare her.

She welcomed the challenge.

A bridge cut short her path forward with a shabbily made gate of sorts built on top of it. It looked incredibly pathetic, but she figured it properly foreshadowed how stupid monsters could be. She was about to cross between the obviously huge gaps in the gate when she felt her foot freeze mid step.

Hello.

This was a surprise.

She couldn't move her foot at all. It might as well have been someone else's due to how little control she had over it. She could feel the magic slowly enveloping the rest of her body. It felt like a blanket made of static electricity. Fuzzy, humming, but not dangerous. Not yet. Was this made by whoever had been trying to scare her?

Nice. She hadn't been scared at all, but her curiosity had been **piqued**. Just how well could her mysterious puppeteer control this magic of theirs? Hopefully a lot, or this would be over much too quickly. She could hear slow yet heavy steps approach her frozen body.

"H. U. M. A. N."

Chara didn't even try to hide her grin.

* * *

"k-kid? what's—! **frisk!** "

* * *

The first thing he registered was the sharp pain that rang through his skull.

The second thing was that he was staring at the ceiling of his bedroom.

The last thing he registered was that he fell off his bed. At least the distance from the bed to the floor wasn't that great. Even if he had skin he knew he wouldn't have bruised.

Sans made no move to rise from his place half on the floor and half not. He kept staring straight at the ceiling while his legs rested beneath the covers atop the bed. Everything was the same. The lamp with the dead flashlight inside was in its place; the treadmill was a few feet away from his head and was turned off to save power and so it wouldn't disturb his sleep; his trash tornado was as messy as ever in its own little corner.

Nothing was out of place.

Everything felt so _wrong._

' _what... the hell just happened?'_ Sans couldn't help but ask himself. He was in his room: that much was certain… But _why?_ Why was he in his old room in the Underground instead of his shared room with Papyrus in the surface? Did someone seriously prank him by bringing him down there? Even so, that was a bit too far for a simple joke and Sans wasn't _that_ heavy a sleeper. What had even happened the day before? For some reason, he couldn't remember.

This whole situation just _screamed_ "bad time".

Sans finally pulled his legs to the ground and stood up. His old, beaten up slippers were at the foot of the bed. The uneasy feeling multiplied exponentially… Those old slippers were supposed to be ripped from being chewed up by a dog who ran away with his ankle bone some years ago. It was supposed to be in a dump or a landfill somewhere far away.

The skeleton was arriving at a conclusion he did _not_ like, at _all_.

He ignored his shoes all together and exited his room a little more distressed than he would've liked to look. Whatever was happening was making his non-existent stomach do flips, and he feared using his magic to take a shortcut outside in his condition would've caused him an unnecessary headache (not that this messed up version of a joke wasn't already causing his skull to pound). He bolted downstairs and across the living room – the tv and Balboa the rock weren't on the surface either, he noticed—and stopped at the kitchen door, following the racket and loud humming he heard. There stood his brother, in his _old_ cooking apron with his _old_ cooking utensils, making unbearably burnt spaghetti noodles when he could obviously do better because of all those cooking lessons he took hosted by Mettaton a _long time ago_. Maybe it _was_ all still a prank. Undyne and Frisk could come up with some scary stuff when they put their minds to it. Alphys was still (supposed to be) re-building the ventilation shafts from their last joke.

The alternative was much scarier to think of.

Papyrus finally noticed Sans standing still at the door to the kitchen. Sans placed his hands inside his pockets and tried not to look as nervous as he felt. "sup, paps?"

"AH! YOU ARE FINALLY AWAKE, BROTHER!" Papyrus did not hesitate to leave the stove at max, _something he just didn't do anymore,_ as he walked over to Sans. "YOU FINALLY FINISHED YOUR EIGHT HOUR NAP! IT'S ALREADY NOON!" Papyrus didn't call them naps anymore since Toriel and Alphys explained the concept of sleep to him. "TODAY IS A GOOD DAY! I CAN FEEL IT!"

Sans watched in barely concealed horror as his brother walked past the pinned up calendar on the wall. If the date hadn't confirmed his fears, Papyrus' words would've. "TODAY MIGHT BE _THE_ DAY! THE DAY I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, FINALLY CAPTURE A HUMAN FOR KING ASGORE!"

The calendar was dated 201X.

He was in the Underground, six years in the past.

* * *

 **A/N:** Of course, it wouldn't be a fanfic made by me if there wasn't a huge gap between chapters 2 and 3. What even...

Now that classes started, I can spend more time writing as I procrastinate. That's not how it's supposed to go? I know. I'm sorry.

See you soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Cycle 4**

* * *

She heard an innocent tune drifting through the air a little ways ahead. The smell of sweets was almost overpowering. She considered stopping for a moment and not carrying through with her plans. That thought, however, was gone as quickly as it arrived when she recalled her previous assaults and the incredible rush she got after she was done. She inched ever closer, making sure her steps were light. Unnoticeable. Even the home's main door had been opened and closed with incredible care and silence. She could see her target now: standing before a stove, still humming some senseless melody.

Completely clueless.

Like others before, she'd strike quickly and viciously, leaving no space for error. No escape. She took a deep breath, and lunged forwards, arms stretched out.

"Surprise!"

Frisk latched onto Toriel's back in a sudden jump, catching her mother off guard. Frisk held tightly to the back of Toriel's purple dress, not letting go. Toriel let out a short yet sharp yell in surprise as she tried to regain her balance; she almost tumbled to the ground along with the newly baked pie she had been placing on the counter. All the while, Frisk's grip and grin never faltered. Another successful victim!

"My child!" Toriel started once the butterscotch pie was safely set on the countertop. No matter how hard she tried, Frisk stayed latched on her back and out of her sight. Even without seeing her face, Frisk could tell from Toriel's tone of voice that she hadn't found her 'sneak attack' as fun as Frisk had. "It is incredibly dangerous to leap onto someone when they are cooking. There could be an accident and you could be severely injured!"

Finally releasing her grip on Toriel, the small human looked her in the eye. Her smile didn't diminish in the slightest. Seeing how happy her child was, Toriel couldn't bring herself to stay mad for too long.

Then, in another 'sneak attack', Frisk swung her arms around Toriel's neck and gave her a big kiss on her fluffy cheek. Without waiting for Toriel to snap out of her surprise and ask Frisk what was the reason for her slightly increased displays of affection, Frisk ran to the front door as she laughed, slipping on her boots and running outside her house. The rowdy exit had been the complete opposite of her stealthy entry.

Another successful victim, indeed!

* * *

Sans didn't like this one bit. Sure enough, everywhere he had wandered to, everything he had looked at, everyone he had heard talking… all signs pointed to time anomalies. They had gone six years without any incidents, so why was all of this occurring _now?_ After half a decade from Frisk's journey followed by complete and utter peace, now there seemed to be a humongous load with no one the wiser.

Sans dearly needed a full bottle of ketchup and someone with answers.

Sans himself didn't have any definite proof as to why he noticed these 'hiccups' while Papyrus and the others remained oblivious. He took a moment to tell himself that calling this a 'hiccup' was as insulting as it was an understatement, but then he decided not to care anymore. He did have a few theories about why he could remember them, though. At first, he remained as oblivious as everyone with only his barely-functional machine in his lab picking up any inconsistencies in the time stream. The fallen children before Frisk could also rewind or repeat time with their Determination, but before long, their Determination ran out and they all fell permanently, their souls collected for King Asgore. The more data his machine showed on these repetitions, the more susceptible Sans became to feelings of déjà vu and the better he got at reading facial expressions. Nearly four humans later, and he no longer needed his machine to tell him when a rewind had occurred; his attuned senses and the oddly unfamiliar changes in the faces of the fallen children would confirm his doubts long before a glance at his machine would. That one kid he had "never met before" would show he knew what jokes Sans would say in advance; or that one little girl was unusually skittish when she was all smiles "last time", though this was his _first_ time meeting her... hints like those. That was his unproved theory: his fanaticism with science and time travel along with his machine, which he made influenced by all the speculated rumors about what human determination could do, slowly attuned his senses to notice all the hiccups in time.

But Frisk had been a special case all along. The amount of Determination she hosted inside her tiny body was previously unheard of, and with it came far more repetitions than the Underground had ever experienced before. During Frisk's journey, others like Undyne and Papyrus also showed signs of déjà vu… Also unlike previous humans, Frisk never harmed and never covered her hands with the dust of others. Her health remained painfully low, and she died far more times than any other human had before. Yet she returned, re-winded, and continued to offer mercy to those who had slain her previously, repeating the same events an unprecedented amount of times.

Even so… it usually took time for Sans to notice a new cycle—a new branching path in the timeline of the world. This time it was different, however. From the moment he awoke and fell off his bed, he knew things were wrong. He recalled everything except the last day or so before this rewind.

Why _could_ he remember that last life so clearly?

He remembered the day he and his friends escaped and saw the sunrise. He remembered slowly moving monsters to the surface and everyone getting used to their new lives. He remembered Toriel and Asgore going to human-monster meetings, more often than not leaving Frisk with him and his brother. He remembered everyone learning and adapting new aspects of human culture. He remembered Frisk teaching them about New Year's, Easter, April Fools, Halloween, the human version of Christmas...

Why _couldn't_ he remember that last day so clearly?

Snow, celebrations, family reunions, pre-wrapped gifts hidden away... The last thing he could remember from his life on the surface was preparing for Christmas. There had been a nice get together at Asgore's place a week or so before the holiday and everyone had gathered to eat Toriel's cooking and share jokes and stories... He went to sleep, and then nothing. He knew something else had happened the day afterwards, something he felt he _needed_ to remember, but just couldn't. It was like that information was blocked behind some kind of box inside his mind he lacked the key to. Like the last memories of a dream after waking up, fleetingly out of reach.

From what he saw, it was only him who remembered anything...

...In theory, anyways.

No matter the cycle, it was always caused by _someone_ , and that someone _always_ remembered.

The million dollar question now was _who_ was responsible?

One name instantly popped to his mind. The only person he could think about was the one that made both the most and the least amount of sense. Could Frisk really be the one behind this?

Yes.

If anybody could make such a big rewind, it was the most determined human he ever had the luck of meeting.

It was precisely moments like these that made Sans wonder if that luck was the good or the bad kind.

But _why_? Why, after living happily for so many years? What possible reason could she have? What moved her to delete all the memories she had made with her family and closest friends? None came to mind.

Could it have been someone else? But who? And why make the cycle start so far back? Could human's still bitter about the reappearance of monsters on the surface have figured out how to rewind? Had they found a way to delete all the progress monsterkind had made? Maybe he was reaching a bit...

Maybe he was just making excuses to believe Frisk was innocent...

Undoubtedly, this had never happened before. He didn't even consider jumping so far back to be possible.

Son of a gun. He was on an endless train of thought now. He _really_ needed those premium ketchup bottles and those damned answers.

"BROTHER! ARE YOU LAZYING ABOUT AGAIN?" Papyrus' voice broke Sans from his thoughts.

Sans had gone outside and had done a quick look around of the area around Snowdin once he saw the date on the calendar. Even presently, he still felt sick and the shock mixed in with his frantic teleporting made Sans feel dizzy afterwards, so he returned to his home and laid down on the sofa, where his mind was currently running laps like a rat inside a cheese-scented maze. He really didn't feel like raising his head and answering Papyrus head on, so he simply showed a thumbs up gesture in the general direction he heard Papyrus' voice coming from and let his arm drop like a sack of potatoes. His entire body felt like lead.

"BROTHER, I HAVE A GOOD FEELING TODAY WILL NOT BE A NORMAL DAY! IT WOULD BE A SHAME TO SPEND IT ALL ON THE COUCH. METATON ISN'T EVEN ON! DO YOU PLAN TO REMAIN AT HOME ALL DAY?" To everyone else, Papyrus' tone would've seemed its normal and cheery self, but Sans knew his little brother perfectly, and he could hear the nearly imperceptible tinge of worry Papyrus used in his words. Guess he hadn't done a good job at hiding how sick he felt…

Taking an inaudible deep breath, Sans sat up on the couch, immensely glad he didn't hurl out whatever thing he had eaten the day before. Besides everything, Papyrus had a point. He wasn't going to find an answer hiding between the couch cushions. He needed to do some leg work and learn exactly when he was and what he could do about it. He might as well get started. "you're right, paps. i think I'll go take a look around town—"

"HOLD ON A SECOND, BROTHER!" Papyrus cut in from inside the kitchen just as Sans started making his way towards the front door. "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN YOUR SHIFT AT SNOWDIN FOREST TODAY? I'LL PERSONALLY PASS BY TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE NOT SLEEPING ON THE JOB." Papyrus had beamed slightly. Sans was obviously feeling better if he was willing to leave the house so easily. Besides, helping his brother was great experience for motivating others when he inevitably became part of the royal guard!... Then he remembered all the other times he hadn't arrived in time to stop Sans from nodding off on the job."...AGAIN," he added.

Ah, right, the date on the calendar also had a mark shaped like a snowman, showing that Sans worked that day... As much as he'd prefer to just ditch and scout the situation, Sans would need to make sure he was on his post when Papyrus would pass by or he'd make his brother worry even more. Sans already felt enough uneasiness to last both of them a few lifetimes. He'd agree with Papyrus' terms for now. "oh right. i forgot. good thing you reminded me, paps. that's why you're the best," Sans winked back. Seeing the way Papyrus swelled up with pride made the knot inside Sans' stomach lessen a bit. Gosh he loved his brother so much.

"NYEH HEH HEH! BUT OF COURSE! IT IS ONLY NATURAL FOR ME TO BE ON TOP OF EVERYTHING!" Papyrus struck his usual pose, letting his scarf float on the breeze. Sans still had no idea how Papyrus could make that happen indoors without much air circulation. Then again he also didn't get his scarf wet although he bathed with his armor on. Papyrus was just incredibly talented like that. "MAKE SURE YOU'RE AT YOUR POST! I'M COMPLETELY SURE TODAY WE WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN, AND YOU SHOULD BE NEARBY TO SEE MY DEVIOUS PUZZLES BEING PUT TO THE TEST! AND TO SEE MY INEVITABLE VICTORY, OF COURSE!"

Yes, it'd be best for Sans to be nearby to see specifically for which human was meant to pass by next. It'd be so weird to see a human that was meant to die before long, especially if it was one of the few Sans put an end to himself... Sans gave his usual wide smile and nodded as he turned to leave once more. Before he opened the door completely, a very specific question came to mind. He kept the door slightly open, ignoring the cold seeping in. He knew the perfect way to phrase it, too. "hey paps, what _does_ a human look like?"

"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS, BROTHER?!" Papyrus wagged a finger as Sans waited with slightly baited breath for his answer. "IT'S WHATEVER DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A FELLOW MONSTER!"

Well. He couldn't really argue with that. And gods, he loved his brother so much, but that wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for. It did answer one fact, though: Frisk hadn't passed by Snowdin yet. Frisk had been the very first human being Papyrus had ever met, and the moment they had 'failed' to capture Frisk and she became friends with Undyne, Papyrus had rekindled his passion for capturing yet another new human to free monster-kind while his new human friend would remain free... At least, for the remainder of the time until Frisk freed everyone. Since his brother hadn't used his meeting with Frisk as a reference to answer his question, Sans knew that Frisk hadn't met with them in this timeline in the very least. That... really didn't win or lose any points in the kid's favor... Had she really caused this new timeline?

"you are completely right, paps. i'll be waiting at my post, then." Sans stepped outside and closed the door to his house. What would he do now? What would he do if Frisk really was the cause of everything? And if she was guilty, did she have a good enough reason? A reason good enough to justify deleting half a decade's worth of memories and love instead of going to her friends for help? Good enough to justify enslaving everyone again? Whether it was her or not, should he stick to doing the same thing he had done the last times he met the humans? Should he change things up?

Sliding his bony hands into his trademark jacket, the skeleton made his way through the other monsters going about their day obliviously and towards his shack in Snowdin Woods. Everything was out of his control for the time being. All he really _could_ do was wait.

Not for the first time, Sans wished he could've been as oblivious as everyone else.

* * *

"Hup! Sneak attack!"

Undyne was shoved, making her crash right on top of Alphys as both girls tumbled onto the messy pile of fallen leaves before them. Immediately afterwards, Frisk could be heard laughing uncontrollably at the sight. Both monsters were covered in foliage, with a few leaves and twigs from the pile they had been building up for the last half hour peeking out from under their shirts and such. Perfectly copying a cheesy cartoon villain, Frisk threw her head back in laughter with her hands planted firmly atop her hips.

"Ha ha ha! Tremble, puny mortals! You both have fallen to the mighty human's surprise attack! Now surrender peacefully _and_ accept the consequences!"

Frisk jumped into the dogpile without a second thought and maneuvered between the various leaves to attack Alphys' and Undyne's weak spots. Once she found them, she quickly wiggled her fingers in an all-out tickle barrage.

"W-Whoa, hahaha, F-Frisk! P-Please s-sto, haha, stop!" Alphys' was quickly down for the count and pleaded for mercy , crawling away from the other two girls as she tried to calm down her breathing to normal levels. She could see Frisk trying and failing to do the same to Undyne.

"HA! I DARE YOU TO TRY, PUNK!" Undyne comfortably laid back atop the leaves with her arms behind her head as she crossed one leg over the other. Frisk kept trying to tickle Undyne, but the hard protection of her scales were a formidable opponent. Hmm, if her scales were too hard to be tickled, she'd have to try somewhere softer… "A sneak attack's worth scrap if you fail to subdue your enemy _YYYEEEK_! * **Snort** *"

Undyne slammed her hands over her mouth in a fruitless attempt to contain her snort. Both Frisk and Alphys stared in silence at the incredibly uncharacteristic and _girly_ scream Undyne had let out. Frisk slowly and carefully drew her hand back from where it had tickled behind Undyne's gills as if she were backing away from a pack of hungry lions. She didn't get too far, as immediately afterwards, Frisk found herself in a tight headlock as Undyne threw her deeper into the leaf pile and noogie'd her into submission. Frisk was in literal tears, crying "UNCLE!" as Undyne yelled back that whoever Frisk's uncle was wouldn't be able to stop her punishment. Alphys finally joined the fray when she worried Frisk's tears were due to pain and not laughter.

She had been caught and apprehended, but it was still another successful attack!

* * *

Goddamit! He had been careless! He had misjudged how strong she had gotten and now he was missing a few petals and a big chunk of his health.

One thing was for sure: Chara was still as manipulative as she had been all those years ago. With a simple smile and carefully picked words, he was wrapped around her finger.

He had begun a battle so she'd have no choice but answering his questions if she wanted his turn to ever end. An advantage monsters had over humans was that low LOVE humans weren't able to begin battles on their own. Unless Flowey wanted otherwise, they'd be stuck there forever. And really, a soulless flower could go way longer than a human could without food and water, and Flowey could be as patient as they come.

Yet instead of answering her reasons for this murderous run and how she made her return inside Frisk's body, she asked him if it wouldn't be fun to end everything; to live life with the indescribable rush of battle instead of living a boring and monotonous life on the surface. Even as Flowey noticed Chara was avoiding answering him, he couldn't help but notice how creepily synced their ways of thinking were. Weren't her words similar to how he used to think six-years-ago-yet-today? Kill or be killed. This was definitely the Chara he remembered living with... Ruthless yet oddly charismatic... Able to even pass putting poisonous buttercups into a cake as an innocent accident.

Chara was nothing if not determined though, and she continued to pick at Flowey's brain with her honey-coated words. "A dash of tragedy always feels good", she off-handedly mentioned, a small smile on her face. That split second between life and death could make you feel more alive than countless years filled with smiles and butterscotch pies, she continued to say. It was kill or be killed after all. She asked him if he didn't want to join her in her quest to empty out the Underground like it was prophesied in the ancient ruins: to become legends. That hadn't been what tricked him, though. It was afterwards, when she held out her hand towards him with her innocently childish smile and said the very same words he once told Frisk.

"C'mon… You're the only one who is any fun to play with anymore."

And that half second of doubt where he accidentally ended his turn was all she needed to catch him off guard and attack him with the knife.

How was that amount of damage even possible? That was the childish, plastic knife Frisk had tried to use to cut off a slice of Toriel's pie and _failed_ with in the last timeline! How could a kid's toy cause so much damage? Regardless of how high her LOVE was, had Chara always been this strong? It was painfully evident that Toriel's fall hadn't been a mere fluke.

And after all that, Chara had the gall to laugh as he ran away and burrowed underground for safety.

"By all means, run away! Scamper off like a dog with its tail between its legs." Chara tucked away the knife and ground the heel of her shoe over the hole Flowey had escaped under. She knew perfectly well how far below the ground voices could carry. She knew full well he could still hear her insults. "Try to look for help and make this challenging for me! I'll be waiting!"

So there he hid, with his former sister ready to rip him to shreds some mere feet above his head. And what leverage did he have on her? Nothing that would be any good for him or anybody else. The damage was done, literally, and it wasn't like he could reset with Chara's abilities overpowering his own. Was there anybody he could really get help from? He doubted anybody but him and Chara remembered anything at all; the most he could do was warn others a new human had fallen… but if no one strong enough to take her on came up and finished her _now_ , she'd simply end up stronger with more LOVE on her side…

What's more, Frisk had talked to Flowey before Chara regained complete control once more. That meant Frisk was still in there, somewhere. Which meant Chara hadn't destroyed Frisk's soul and wasn't just possessing Frisk's empty body… and Flowey would bet anything that the other six human souls were still at Asgore's castle. After all Frisk was the lucky number seven: the seventh soul to fall to the Underground. If Chara used Frisk's soul from wherever she was locking it away and combined all seven souls, there'd be nothing stopping her from continuing her carnage to the surface. And sure, human technology such as weapons and guns would make quick work of a normal human, but a god possessing seven souls…? Flowey himself didn't know what the final outcome of such a clash would be, but he knew there'd be thousands of lives lost before the news got out and the humans mobilized a counterattack against Chara in the very least. By that point, Chara's LOVE would be off the charts… She'd have EXP from not only every monster, but from countless humans as well. And what if someone managed to slay Chara in the Underground? Chara was overpowering him at the moment… Did that mean she had enough Determination to keep re-loading until she won? If she didn't, wouldn't Asgore gain all seven souls and start an all-out-war against human kind? Toriel was dead, so she wouldn't be there to stop him like last time…Things just seemed to go from bad to worse the more Flowey thought about it…

Was hiding out from Chara's line of fire all he could really do? But he had to at least try _something_. He'd meet his end soon enough if he waited around idly, anyways… He was dead if he did something and he'd be dead if he did nothing. Even burrowing under the ground wouldn't save him against someone harboring seven souls.

He heard Chara scuff in annoyance once she realized he wouldn't show his face no matter what she said to him. Chara continued walking, throwing one last provocation his way.

"One final game: 'my' soul, the freedom of monster kind and a deliciously destructive war… or my LOVE and the end of both worlds." Chara shot one final glance backwards before finally proceeding deeper into the ruins on her way towards Snowdin Woods. "By all means, please try to make this interesting, _Asriel_."

Damn it… He didn't need to look at her face to know she was wearing a huge grin. He made his way towards Snowdin ahead of her.

She really had him wrapped around her finger.

* * *

Well. That blowed.

Frisk hoped to catch both skeleton brothers by surprise by barreling through their main door and rolling straight to the middle of their living room. She'd give herself extra points if she rolled over the rug and struck a cool pose without getting carpet burn. She didn't expect Sans to choose that exact moment to exit his home and act as an accidental roadblock, making Frisk realize that regardless of how lazy Sans was, he was still made entirely of extremely hard bones. Now the girl laid on her butt, rubbing her face and all other places that ached from crashing into him. She was still blinking the stars out of her eyes.

"hey, kiddo," Frisk didn't need to look at him to hear the amusement on his tone. Gosh! Was ketchup the equivalent of milk to monsters? She'd be lucky not to be sore the next day! That hurt more than the time Monster Kid kicked that soccer ball in P.E. and she accidentally stopped it with her face. "i see you're getting ready for _fall_ already. just make sure you don't _crash_ and burn in excitement."

Frisk tried her best to look serious while still rubbing the sore spot on her chin and tried not to show she found his incredibly lame pun even the least bit funny. "Wow. That was so funny I forgot to laugh."

Sans' smile stayed the same, but Frisk could tell he wasn't buying her words. The small twitches at the corners of her mouth was probably giving her way. "really? that's a shame. you really brushed against my _funnybone_ just now."

"SAAAANS! WERE YOU MAKING ANOTHER BONE PUN INSTEAD OF-"

Frisk was glad Sans turned to looked at his brother at that exact moment. She couldn't stop her grimace from becoming a smile. She hated showing she liked Sans' puns. Toriel's sense of humor was rubbing off her in the worst possible way.

Papyrus stepped outside the door holding a pot of what Frisk could only guess was spaghetti. Unfortunately, nothing safe for consumption should be emitting purple-tinted vapor... Those cooking classes were a curse in disguise. While Papyrus could finally cook basic dishes extremely well, including regular plates of pasta, learning the basics... _inspired_ him to try his hand at other, never before thought of, versions of dishes. Frisk still felt queasy whenever she remembered the majesty that had been spaghetti ice cream. Hey, Temmies liked it, so there was that...

Frisk did not wanna know what purple spaghetti was supposed to be...

"AH! HELLO THERE, SMALL FRISK! YOU'VE APPEARED JUST IN TIME TO TRY MY NEWEST INVENTION: SPICY SPAGHETTI!"

Oh. That didn't sound bad. _Definitively_ better than pasta ice cream. She was sure Papyrus could pull off spicy spaghetti perfectly fine. Before her judgement made her agree wholeheartedly for what was sure to be a big serving of food, Frisk asked a cautionary question. "But doesn't spicy spaghetti already exist?"

The slight shake of San's shoulders, his way of trying to stifle a laugh, would've been more than enough to let Frisk know.

"VERY PERCEPTIVE! WHILE HUMANS HAVE MASTERED THE ART OF SPICY SPAGHETTI LONG BEFORE I COULD, I AM QUITE SURE THEY HAVEN'T TRIED BANANA NOODLE SPAGHETTI WITH GRAPE SAUCE. AND WASABI! DOCTOR ALPHYS TOLD ME IT REALLY PACKS A PUNCH!"

Oh god. Thank goodness she asked first. Just as Frisk finally stood from the ground and was ready to smoothly excuse herself from dinner, Sans turned towards her with his usual prank-loving smile and spoke up before she even had a chance. "isn't this great, frisk? you were just telling me how you were starving and would love to eat some of papyrus' special home cooking. isn't that great, pap?"

 _'Oh Sans you_ monster. _'_

Frisk had half a second to see Sans shaking trying to contain his laughter a bit before Papyrus' innocent eye sockets turned to her. The lovable, tall skeleton beamed with pride at Sans words and Frisk couldn't bring herself to lie about being full. Papyrus looked just like a kid on Christmas Eve... He looked so immensely happy at the thought of her wanting to try his food...

Dang it...

"DO YOU REALLY HUNGER FOR MY CULINARY SKILLS, FRISK?" Oh gosh, were those tears in Papyrus' eyes? That's it. Checkmate. Why could Frisk stare down and do battle against Undyne and Asgore and even Flowey fused with six human souls and enough monster souls to make up a seventh soul thus essentially making him a _god_... but she couldn't bring herself to even dream of hurting the younger skeleton's feelings? And Sans, the bastard, knew that perfectly.

She was doomed.

"Y... Yes... I very much would love to try your... spicy banana and grape..." Frisk gulped harshly, forcing the rest of her words out. She had already signed her death warrant. Might as well just get the rest of the words out... "...Spaghetti, Paps. I'll be... looking forward to it..."

Letting out a squeal of delight, Papyrus stirred the noodles in the pot even faster, making Frisk finally notice the smell. Yup, that was the smell of fruits mixed with wasabi... Oh gods... "YOU ARE IN LUCK! I SHALL GET STARTED ON YOUR PORTION RIGHT AWAY. YOUR TASTE BUDS WILL SCREAM IN DELIGHT!"

 _'Oh, my taste buds will be screaming, alright...'_ Frisk waved with little enthusiasm as Papyrus turned around and hurried back inside. The moment Papyrus was out of sight, the girl's shaky smile dropped as she glared Sans down, who was trying greatly not to let his amusement show past his still slightly shaking shoulders. "Oh my _gosh_ , Sans! Why the heck did you say that?!"

With a simple shrug of his shoulders, Sans seemed to smile even wider as he slipped his bony hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "what? you saying you _don't_ wanna try my bro's food?"

Worried Papyrus would hear Sans' words, Frisk hurried to cover his mouth with her hands, eyes darting back inside the brother's house. "S-Shhhh! What are you _saying_!" She let out a sigh when the sounds of Papyrus extremely loud humming could still be heard from outside the house. He didn't stop, so it was safe to guess he hadn't heard anything. Granted, she doubted Sans would ever say anything that would harm the gentle-natured skeleton's feelings... but Frisk had acted on instinct. "...Besides, Papyrus' experiments always end up... with _special_ flavors..."

"you humans and your stomachs and your uncontrollable taste buds. so problematic."

Seeing that her hands did literally nothing to stop the skeleton's voice volume, Frisk pulled her hands away and continued to pout. "Says the skeleton with a ketchup addiction..."

Sans shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "then let's say it's payback for crashing into me. now we're even."

"Wha..." Frisk stared incredulously. Maybe one day she'd live long enough to understand how Sans' brain worked. Then again, there would never be enough days in a calendar for that. "You didn't even _flinch_! _I'm_ the one who might get a bruise later! Isn't that almost a con?!"

"aw, c'mon, frisky..." Sans said in a mock sad voice. Gods, she hated that nickname. It was so embarrassing... It made her sound like some kind of pervert. And he knew she wasn't fond of it better than anyone. He still sounded _way_ too amused to be taken seriously, for Frisk's tastes...

The teenage girl was slightly startled when Sans reached upwards and put his hand on the top of her head only to pull it back with a bright orange leaf that seemed to have gotten stuck on her hair when she crashed into him. "accusations like that are awful. you _autumn_ say 'em."

And Frisk lost the battle to stay serious by letting out a huge snort at the incredibly lame pun. "Geez... You're so..."

Her train of thought stopped there, but Sans egged her on, waving the orange leaf in front of her face. "i'm so what? irresistibly _humerous_? you better _be-leaf_ it!"

"Stooop!" She had to hold her stomach to steady her laughter. Why did she have to find Sans' and Toriel's horrible puns so funny? It was a weakness she could do without if she wanted to be taken seriously. "Fine, you're awesome," she wiped a small tear that was starting to form in the corner of her eye, dreading what she was about to say, "So be even more awesome and help me wolf down some of the spaghetti you signed me up for. It'll be _impastable_ for me alone."

Giving a sudden snort of laughter, Sans hid his mouth behind a bony hand. Ah, he wouldn't trade pulling Frisk's leg and exchanging puns with her for the world.

"i'd love to, kiddo," he said patting her head, a habit that hadn't died even though she had finally grown slightly taller than him all these years later, "...but i have to run. i'll help you if there's any left when i return."

A smile quickly turned into a small frown tinged in slight terror.

"Wait wait wait, what? Why are you..."

"yup. i was going out to buy groceries when you showed up." Sans shrugged his shoulders and kept walking past her, "but thanks for keeping paps company! you're a real life-saver!"

Frisk could only stare slack jawed as the small skeleton kept walking in the direction of town. "That's...not fair..." No matter how much she hoped, Sans continued onward and didn't turn around and claim this had been a prank.

She was going to the metaphorical belly of the beast. Alone. The stinging in her chin from when she crashed against Sans told her this wasn't a dream.

Man oh man... Mission **failed.**

* * *

Sans stood behind his post in Snowdin woods, eyes closed and reviewing information in his mind. He was glad he at least had a roof over his head. Standing still as he thought was an exceptional way to gather snowflakes atop his head, and that was always a mess to clean up. He missed the climates of the surface already. Where they had lived got a heavy amount of snow closer to the chilly season, but they also shifted and transformed into other, pleasant seasons. There wasn't anywhere that felt like 'spring' or 'fall' in the Underground. Just snow, rain, heat, and nothing.

Snow or none, this sure was a skull-scratcher... He lacked sufficient data. He was stuck at a wall; he had no way of knowing how many souls they had, if any, and no way to know who caused this Lo... Well, he was tempted to call this a Wipe instead of a Load; way more deadly than a Load, and it expressed perfectly how this whole situation left him feeling like crap.

Sighing deeply, the short skeleton couldn't help but feel his irritation grow. If he couldn't keep his mind occupied on trying to find answers, his thoughts would start going down a road he didn't like...

No matter what happened, that future on the surface was gone...

They were back in the Underground again... and no one remembered all those years they all spent together...

All the backbreaking progress done for humans to accept the monsters was gone, the humans back to obliviously believing monsters were locked away forever.

Those years exploring the surface, growing closer in ways he never thought possible to his friends, to Tori, Frisky, even his own brother! The surface was a brave, new world that brought so much diversity and excitement to everyone's lives...

And no one but him and whoever did this remembered.

He really, truly and honestly hoped Frisk hadn't caused this. Not only was the kid someone he cared for enough to consider as an adopted little sister, but how would he even go about confronting her for answers? How would he even ask her what her reasons for making those years disappear were? Did he even _want_ to know whatever reason she could've had to do all this? He wasn't even sure...

Just _what_ was he supposed to _do_?

Not for the first time, his gaze moved in the direction of the giant door separating Home from Snowdin Forest. The door he loved to practice knock knock jokes on until the day a woman answered. Of course, now he knew the woman he had talked to was the Monster Queen Toriel, but he wondered if he had even met her in this timeline...

Man... the idea of a journal sounded _so_ good right now... Then at least he would've known exactly when he was. He never saw the point in it due to his machine and... well... he never expected to escape the Underground and finally live on the surface. He had given up on that dream ever happening. He didn't think he'd ever have something interesting to jot down there... Now he was dreading being alone in the dark. The suspense was killing him. He didn't know what to expect just yet or what would be the correct course of action. Dammit, he thought all this shit was done when everyone escaped to the surface! This was nothing short of a nightmare.

Well... Sans stared at the road leading to the town. It was bare and most importantly, he couldn't see Papyrus anywhere in the distance. He'd take a tiny bit of action and do something, then. The skeleton hurried past Papyrus' makeshift gate and over to the door to the ruins, still feeling a bit queasy from that morning and just not feeling like teleporting. As he stood before the large, imposing door... he couldn't help but wonder if he truly wanted to know what would happen... Toriel might not even be there. She might not have met him yet. He just had no idea what would happen. And that thought alone, in a world where he had grown used to repeats of the same days over and over again, scared him a bit. But he'd get nowhere just standing around in the snow.

So he knocked. "knock knock."

And he waited.

And he didn't hear any replies.

Resigned to not try again and return to his station before Papyrus showed up and started worrying, he heard the Monster Queen's voice, much softer and less exuberant than he was used to hearing.

He got a foreboding sense of déjà vu, and he absolutely _hated_ it.

* * *

Alright, who was left..? Who would the little human make her next victim?

She had spent a visit at most of her friend's locations already. She had started her mission at Asgore's, having spent the night at his home. She tracked down where he was in the house, and burst open the door to the room he was in, ready to jump on him and give him a well-natured shock. Naturally, it was hard to explain what she had planned to do in the middle of the video call conference he was in... Luckily Asgore could roll with most punches and simply introduced Frisk to the humans he was talking to, who had quite the number of questions to ask the monster liberator. She just wished she could've been spared the mortification of talking with such prestigious people while in her duck-themed pajamas... How many other kids her age could say she had personally talked to a bunch of nations' leaders in a single day? In their sleepwear? She was about ready to dig her own hole and crawl inside it forever. She would call it 'New Underground' in honor of Asgore's horrible tastes at naming things.

She had also stopped by Napstablook's house, forgetting he wasn't corporeal and thus she wouldn't be able to glomp him. She stopped by Monster Kid's as well, and got invited inside for cookies once Monster Kid's parents noticed the commotion the two teens were doing after her surprise had turned into an all-out wrestling competition. Even though her opponent lacked arms, she still got schooled...

Raising her arm to check the time on her watch, Frisk let out a tiny squeak. She looked around at the people in the park around her and was glad no one heard her. Man, her arm was on pins and needles, though...

Mental note: never try to surprise Mettaton when he's working on the lights for his new show. How was anyone supposed to know the mechanical diva helped with the lights because his metal body let him handle electricity without harm? Frisk didn't, that was for sure. The hand she used to slap the robot's shoulder to surprise him got quite a shock...

Oh gods, the puns kept coming. She kept thinking of Sans throughout the day. How couldn't she, when every huge motion made her stomach flip the contents of Papyrus' latest masterpiece? The constant reminder made sure the small skeleton's betrayal was still fresh in her mind. Thankfully, the wasabi had numbed her tongue to the point it no longer could tell the flavors of what she ate, but everything else had been an ordeal... A heavy one that still made her feel queasy if she tried to move at anything more than a light gait.

Papyrus had looked so happy at her, though... And wasn't that what was most important? Besides, she'd just make sure she pulled a prank on Sans later. It had been a while since she and Undyne did their last prank where they filled Alphys' home completely with jello, so maybe she'd lend her a hand? Maybe she could use that girly snort she and Alphys saw as blackmail? Not that Undyne didn't like teaming up and making grand schemes that left people's jaws on the floor. The human girl let out a small giggle. They'd just go light on what instruments they used. Who knew jello would be hard to clean out of Alphy's air vents?

Stretching her non-numb arm above her head in a stretch, Frisk stared at the sun still up in the sky. It was still extremely light out. Maybe she'd drop by Muffet's and spend time with her pet? The cupcake-like monster was as sweet as Muffet's creations when he wasn't trying to chomp up her soul. Oh, maybe she'd swing by Grillby's as well! He had a new item made with human ingredients on the menu he was selling for a limited time. Maybe she could take it to go and make sure she'd finally a give it a try whenever her stomach settled down.

Frisk closed her eyes as a nice breeze made her hair move and let her smell all the leaves falling around the mostly monster inhibited town. Where else would she go today?

* * *

"...AND WE ONLY PARTIALLY BURNED HER HOUSE DOWN THIS TIME. SHE EVEN SAID IT'D BE ALL BETTER BY TOMORROW! UNDYNE EVEN PRAISED HOW GREAT I'VE BECOME AT COOKING!" Papyrus continued on, always enjoying telling Sans of how his day had gone. After training with Undyne and checking to see if a human had been trapped on one of his devious puzzles (sadly that had not happened despite what he had thought that morning), Papyrus had stopped by his brother's station, glad to see Sans standing guard at it and not taking off to Grillby's on a break or dozing off. He _was_ slightly worried that Sans looked a bit different from how he usually was... He looked even more tired than normal. He wasn't even making any puns about his training with Undyne! Usually whenever they burned her house down, Sans would say something like "looks like things got _hot_ and sweaty" or "seems like you guys _felt the burn_ while training". His shorter brother showed that he was listening by nodding at Papyrus now and then, but Papyrus could swear his mind was elsewhere... He was starting to get worried...

Meanwhile, there was a storm of thoughts raging around inside Sans' head. So Toriel had expected Sans' jokes, meaning that today hadn't been their first meeting. And he was fine with that. What he wasn't fine with, was that today was the day Toriel asked him to promise to care for whatever human passed through the ruins and into the rest of the Underground. Too stupefied to really think clearly, his mind went on autopilot and agreed to that promise in the end despite his hatred of them. He didn't even know if he would've denied her had his mind been a hundred percent there. One thought kept repeating in his head, bringing forth an intense feeling of dread and confusion everytime he repeated it... Toriel had asked him the promise to _keep Frisk safe_.

And that wasn't all.

As Sans sat down against the door, the strength in his knees giving out from all the thoughts that talk had dropped on him, Toriel thanked him for accepting. As she made to leave to check up on the sleeping child, she mentioned how worried she was for her. This shook Sans out of his stupor. This had been new. Regardless of his friends changing their words slightly whenever multiple loads had happened in the past, Sans could remember every little thing they had done differently, to the point it didn't feel new anymore. He had made this promise to Toriel many times six years ago, and he knew everything she would say by heart, and this had all been **new**. Toriel said this was her first time meeting the child, yet she could tell there was something wrong, something on the small girl's mind. Sans wasn't sure if he hid the groan he felt when the assurance of a female child fully entered his brain. More and more evidence. More and more questions. Before leaving Sans to go back to her house, she asked if Sans could extend a hand of friendship to the human, should they need it.

Perhaps if the skeleton had found his voice in time and hadn't stayed in stupefied silence, the goat woman wouldn't have apologized for making too many demands and wouldn't have left in a flustered hurry. Sans didn't even realize he had walked back to his station on autopilot until Papyrus appeared and started talking about his day. Not wanting to worry his brother, Sans walked back to their home as he tried to listen to Papyrus' adventures, but his mind kept slipping away.

That promise... So Frisk was the human that would soon open that huge door? Was Frisk the one that had indeed Loaded everyone so far back? And what about Toriel? This was supposed to be the goat woman's first meeting with her future adopted daughter, so what did she mean by her words? It sounded as if she still remembered something about Frisk. This Wipe had not been a clean one... Sans still remembered the future clearly, and it seemed that maybe Toriel did as well? Or maybe she had an inkling... a sixth feeling about it? So was Frisk acting weird the reason she reset? It _had_ to be her by this point, right?

There were too many questions and not enough answers!

"SO, UH... SANS?" the skeleton briefly stopped his thoughts when he heard his name. His eyes went wider than he had wanted, completely forgetting he was walking back home with Papyrus. He wasn't sure he liked the extremely wide smile Papyrus was giving him... "HOW ABOUT WE STOP BY GRILLBY'S TODAY? EVEN A MONSTER AS SKILLED AS ME WILL TAKE SOME TIME MAKING A CULINARY MASTERPIECE, SO WE CAN STOP TO GRAB SOME FOOD TODAY TO EAT QUICKER, MAYBE?"

And cue the overwhelming sense of guilt. Sans mentally cursed at himself, not hiding his emotions well enough and causing his brother to worry on his behalf. Papyrus hated stepping a single boot inside Grillby's due to his standards, but he was willing to do that just to make Sans cheer up. Man, he'd be lost without his brother's incredibly loving personality and presence, but Sans hated making him worry more than anything else, even more than easily broken promises forgotten to shifting timelines. Shaking his head and shooting a wink at Papyrus, Sans tried to do the best amount of damage control he could.

"nah, that's fine paps. maybe we could eat something simple today, like..."

"...LIKE?" Papyrus asked, taking the bait Sans laid out for him.

"like a _sans_ wich?"

"SAAAAAAAAAANS!" Why did Papyrus bother! Sans had to be doing well if he was ready to crank out puns at a moment's notice. Papyrus completely missed the relieved sigh Sans let out. "I SHOULD THINK OF BRINGING YOU OVER TO TRAIN AT UNDYNE'S AS WELL! THAT'D PUT A SPRING IN YOUR STEP! NYEH HEH HEH!"

Hearing the fish woman's name, an idea popped in San's head. With it, he'd be able to confirm without a shred of doubt whether the human that had fallen was indeed Frisk or not... Toriel's promise had left him with little doubt, but Sans needed to do this. He _needed_ to be completely sure in this topsy-turvy world. There had been female souls that had fallen into Toriel's hand before, and if something as simple as Toriel's words had changed, there was a chance something else had changed as well. He didn't want to hear Undyne's answer (GODS he _really_ didn't want to hear what she'd say) but he had to bite the bullet and finally have one question completely answered beyond a shadow of a doubt.

"speaking of, paps, mind giving me your phone to give her a ring? i have something work-related to ask her about."

"R-REALLY?" He couldn't believe what he heard... Was Sans truly taking work seriously and taking the initiative on something? He knew this day would come, but not so soon! Maybe that explained Sans' weirdness; he simply wasn't used to being as motivated as Papyrus! But he would be there every single step of the way to help his brother transition from a lazy caterpillar into a beautiful, pasta-loving butterfly! Without a second thought, the taller skeleton fished for his phone and handed it off to Sans. "IF THE GREAT PAPYRUS MIGHT ASK..." he was so jittery, he was basically running in place in his excitement, "WHAT WILL YOU ASK UNDYNE?"

"hm? well..." Sans said absentmindedly as he searched for Undyne's number in the phone directory. Papyrus didn't have many numbers saved, but Sans wasn't a whiz at navigating phones either. "i was thinking of asking her of how many more breaks I could get on my sentry jobs. standing around is leaving me _bone-tired_."

It was hard not to laugh at how Papyrus got easily emotional over everything. The way he yelled in frustration and hurried on ahead towards Snowdin got a tired chuckle out of Sans. He loved the way Papyrus went around with his heart on his sleeve, something Sans had difficulty doing more than anyone. Even the most stubborn of humans found it hard to remain grumpy around the lovable skeleton. If only Papyrus could've continued living with everyone on the surface, facing every day like an adventure and learning more and more about the world... Now they were all stuck down here again; possibly because of one of their closest friends. At least his bro wouldn't be around to hear his question to Undyne. Anything to keep him a bit longer in the dark and safe from serious matters was worth it in the ketchup-lover's mind. The phone rang about once before Undyne picked it up and answered.

"I already TOLD you, Papyrus! Even if half the house wasn't on fire this time, we SHOULDN'T TRAIN AGAIN TODAY!"

Well, Sans was glad that despite her recklessness, Undyne was looking out for Paps' safety here and there. Luckily, fires didn't last long in Waterfall, or he'd be far more worried about huge fires breaking out whenever his brother and Undyne hanged out at her house. Those two plus a kitchen always spelled explosions. "hey, 'dyne. sans here."

"Huh? SANS? Color me surprised. Whatcha callin' for?" One more thing Sans liked about Undyne was that she cut right to the heart of most things.

"quick question: how many souls do we have, again?"

Oh, he could feel the barely contained rage coming off the phone. Hope it didn't break or he'd have a heard time explaining that to Paps. Actually, saying she was so angry about Sans asking for extra breaks didn't sound that hard to believe...

"What the HELL, SANS?! How could you possibly forget something so IMPORTANT! You GAVE us three of those humans yourself!"

"yeah, well," Sans dawdled. He couldn't exactly say he was relieving an old life and couldn't tell right from left anymore. His stomach was already in a huge knot and arguing with someone wasn't in his list of priorities. "just humor me. i had a pretty wild dream about them and forgot."

"For the love of..." Undyne trailed off. She gave an angry sigh but complied, not knowing Sans hung on her every word. "Make sure you DON'T forget this time. We have six human souls. Just one more and we'll finally have our revenge on the humans."

* * *

"I'm home!" Frisk yelled as soon as she slammed through the house's main door. When she didn't hear the normal call welcoming her back, the teenage girl walked into the kitchen to see if Toriel was too caught up on working on the pie she was making earlier that day. Had Frisk's prank really caused her mom to burn a pie or the likes? The thought of Toriel burning a pie sounded implausible to her. A sticky note and an immaculately clean kitchen quickly dispelled her doubts.

 _Frisk, I am at the market buying some ingredients for our picnic this weekend. I also received a call from Asgore and Alphys saying you also "surprised" them and Undyne. Did you drink soda again? You know what that does to you._

 _Lots of love, Toriel_

Oh right! A fall picnic with everyone was happening that weekend. No wonder she found Alphys and Undyne at the park and Papyrus was making a new spaghetti invention to show everyone… She had completely forgotten. Frisk placed the note atop the countless others next to the cookie jar in the unofficial "already read" pile she collected from every sticky note Toriel left her when she didn't feel like sending a text. That happened more often than not since Toriel's claws would scratch up the touch screens of the brand new phones she got from being a human-monster ambassador.

Opening the kitchen's window and looking outside, Frisk felt the fall breeze hit her face. The temperature of summer was finally dying down, but the chill of winter still was a ways away. Flowey didn't seem to be home either, so the warm and loving house she loved returning to felt huge and empty... and slightly colder... It was so silent…

…Ever since she started having those weird dreams, she hated being alone in her house. She was always an outdoors type of person, but she never felt this uneasy inside an empty building before…

Frisk gave a heavy sigh, more to fill in the silence than to get rid of all the pent up tension she couldn't shake off. Dreams were just dreams… yet that reoccurring one, where she was back in the underground with no one around, silent, desolate… only the howling wind and the echoes of her shoes on the ground… not a single sign of her friends or family wherever she looked…

Her whole body shivered just recalling the unpleasant memory. It was a borderline nightmare. That's why she went around visiting everyone that day. Maybe it was silly and childish, but jumping on everyone, being able to feel them, touch them, hearing their voices… It helped her to forget that dream. Hearing their laughter was just a nice bonus. She really hated how loud the silence was inside her usually vibrant home.

Frisk looked behind her. She almost felt like there was something across the dark hallway leading deeper inside her home. Not a friendly monster... Something sinister and far more dangerous...

Her heart was thumping so hard inside her chest, it hurt. She felt her heart would pop out of her chest like it did in the underground...

The darkness in the hallway seemed to be growing longer... Slowly stretching out until it was everything she could see, all she could feel. The darkness itself was entering her lungs and taking over her body.

Her ears were ringing from the pure, deafening silence she heard. It really hurt...

She couldn't remember the last time she had been this terrified...

"ARF, ARF, RRRRUFF!"

Frisk gasped and fell to her knees, her vision blurry tears gathering behind her eyes she hadn't noticed. The small noise outside had been enough to knock her out of whatever daydream she just had. Frisk stood on shaky feet and shook her head, rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hands.

She hadn't moved. Her house looked the same as before. Nothing had changed.

Hearing the barks of a dog and a young, laughing child yelling at it to wait up made everything she had just felt seem ridiculous and silly. She probably was experiencing the side effects of that banana-grape-wasabi pasta she forced herself to eat for Papyrus' sake.

Frisk promptly closed the window and ran outside the house. She'd keep wandering around until she found someone or until Toriel returned home. Maybe Toriel wouldn't mind if Frisk slept with her that night? She was probably too old for such desires, but it was no longer sweltering hot due to summer, so maybe she'd agree...? Anything that would keep the memory of her dream and her overactive imagination off her mind.

* * *

He didn't know what he hoped to find there. The sad excuse for a lab was the same as always. Sure the machine was beeping the alert that it detected a time anomaly, but Sans knew that perfectly well without it. His mind kept repeating the words Undyne told him yesterday. They had six souls. It was impossible to deny now that Frisk was the human that Toriel was caring for. The chances of her not being responsible for this cycle seemed to be one in a million.

Okay.

He had some answers.

 _Now what?_

What good was any of this if he didn't act on it? But act on it how? Confront Frisk about everything? Would she even admit to anything? If she didn't and he revealed his cards, he was at a disadvantage. Not only that, but Frisk could begin to avoid him on purpose. Or worse: she could try to go back and make sure he didn't remember next time, and something told him he wouldn't. A nagging feeling told him that if there was another huge Load, he'd be as oblivious as everyone else.

He wouldn't remember the surface at _all_.

The answer to why he remembered the future so clearly still evaded him. He felt he was _so achingly close_. He now remembered waking up on that last day at his home with Papyrus on the surface, but that was it. He still couldn't remember the clue that would more than likely answer everything he was missing. What if Frisk knew the reason Sans could and couldn't remember? Was she involved in something he couldn't even begin to comprehend? Should he just sit at the sidelines and pray to whatever deity he didn't believe existed that she'd solve whatever she turned the clock back to fix... alone? Did he just do nothing? If he remained silent, he knew he'd never have another day of peace in his life. Even if they returned to the surface, he'd never be able to relax again, wondering if Frisk would just... _reset_ everything once more when she felt it.

What's more, he marked the day after Toriel made him promise to protect Frisk as the day Frisk herself came out of the ruins. The chances Frisk would take her first step into the rest of the Underground today were incredibly high.

Ugh... He just wanted to stay down there in that lab forever. He was glad he got some small amount of sleep last night. Sans was pretty sure he'd need it with what a mess everything was going to be.

Standing up form the stairs he had sat on, Sans ignored the beeping machine and tried his best to look normal as he exited the lab and closed it. He glanced up at the sky behind his house, absentmindedly staring at the falling snow. What would he do about Frisk..? Maybe... Maybe for now, it was okay not to know? Maybe he'd watch from a far, act normally, and move on from there... Once he had more information to analyze...

His musings were cut short by a snowflake falling inside one of his eye sockets, melting instantly and making him feel extremely uncomfortable. He hated when that happened. Frisk had told him the sensation was similar to what squirting water through the nose felt like for humans. He really didn't feel like dealing with that...

Pulling his hoodie up, Sans walked into Snowdin Town. If he remembered correctly, Papyrus would be taking his morning run around Snowdin before re-calibrating his puzzles. 'Showtime' was soon. Not wanting to risk running into his brother when he still didn't feel even close to acting normal, Sans decided a shortcut to Snowdin Woods would be best. He could even walk part of the way and use the time to gather his composure.

He didn't need to be okay.

He just needed to act like it.

A shortcut later, and Sans was just a bit past Doggo's and Papyrus' stations. He figured it was close enough. Didn't want to risk being talked to by the Royal Guards. They seemed to like skeletons a bit too much... He really didn't feel like asking them to not drool as they talked to him.

Sans heard something and stopped in his tracks. He was utterly alone and on high alert. Anything that tried to hide its presence tended to be dangerous... The skeleton saw a piece of the stone path tremble a bit ahead on the road, apparently the source of the noise he heard. Shortly afterwards, spider cracks appeared on the rubble, and before long, he saw a familiar sight crawl out, a green stalk with yellow petals.

"Fuck, I HATE the cold!"

That cinched it. That was definitively Flowey the Flower. Yet another irregularity this time around...

"now what in _carnation_ are _you_ doing here?" Sans walked closer to the flower. Now that he could see him better, Flowey was... missing a few petals... What had he fought that left him in that kind of state? Anyone who spent time with Flowey in the future knew he hated the cold and had great difficulty burrowing through frozen ground, so why had he come to Snowdin of all places?

The flower snapped his head in his direction, eyes wide. Was Flowey shivering due to his usual grumpiness, or due to the cold? Or maybe it was something else? Sans couldn't tell.

"Wha-? Sans?"

Oh... This was even weirder than what he thought it'd be. He was pretty sure this should've been the first time Flowey and he had met in this timeline... How would he approach this?...

"that's my name, alright?" he scratched his head, trying to choose his words carefully. "not for nothing, but you look extremely out of place. though if you wanna stick around in this frozen forest, i guess that's _cool_ , too-"

A harsh snarl cut San's words short. Right, Flowey had never been fond of jokes. "Cut the bull, Smiley Trashbag. You can tell timelines apart, can't you?"

Oh.

 _Oh._

Okay.

Yeah, this was _very_ new...

"...yes... and apparently you do as well." Could this be the break he had been looking for? Did Flowey know something he could tell Sans? He'd focus on that, though that particular nickname Flowey used made some far-off bells ring, even though he couldn't remember being called that at all before; at least not in the last timeline... "you mind explaining why you can tell, too?"

Flowey stayed uncharacteristically silent. He was extremely serious, even if he was still slightly shivering from the cold. This was a very thin line he was crossing, and walking out of it could easily get him as dead as Chara had wanted a bit ago. But maybe this was the chance he was looking for...

Flowey knew Sans perfectly. One of the times before all seven souls were in the Underground, Flowey had decided to do much like Chara and destroy everyone in his way in a vain attempt to feel _something, anything_ inside his empty soul. Everyone had been easy enough pickings for a flower with enough Determination, but one sole monster had given him a run for his money... That had been Sans, standing at the very end of his route. No matter how high Flowey raised his LOVE, Sans had been a tough adversary to face. Tough enough to convince Flowey to give up and reset, back when his Determination wasn't being overridden by someone else. Perhaps most importantly, every time Sans stood before him, halting his progress, Sans would recognize that Flowey had changed timelines. Maybe Sans wasn't as conscious of them as Flowey or even the fallen children, but he was more than clueless, which was a godsend for Flowey at the moment.

He knew Sans could fight. He knew Sans would more likely than not try to kill him should he remember those timelines. One of the monsters he had brutally murdered had been his beloved brother, after all. Maybe Sans would be enough to face of against Chara, especially right now, with her relatively low LOVE. If Sans fought her and beat her enough times, forcing her to Load over and over again until she lost her Determination and gave up... That was it. That was the ending they needed instead of the other ones where Chara went on her murder spree. Sure Asgore would obtain all seven souls and war could break out on the surface, but it truly felt like the lesser of two evils... Not only that, but maybe if Chara gave up, Frisk could return and just free everyone again.

But... Would that even be possible? Would Frisk be able to return? She had slipped past Chara's guard once, but she didn't even recognize Flowey... He felt Chara had an even tighter hold on the human now. And would Sans be willing to strike her down, should he remember the future? This was a hell of a gamble he was taking... Good thing he had little to lose besides his life.

"I'm gonna cut to the chase here: I know you can fight, Sans. I know about your blue magic and blasters."

Those words slammed into Sans as if a bucket of ice cold water had been throw at his face, to enter every opening on his skull. Weren't those an interesting choice of words to use?...

"is that so? didn't take you for a joker."

"I'm dead serious." countered Flowey. Chara was on her way a mere feet away. He needed Sans to listen and he needed Sans to act fast. He couldn't see where the line he was walking was, but damn he wasn't gonna stand around and wait for it to show itself.

" **so am i**." Sans was quite sure light wasn't coming out of his eye sockets anymore. If Flowey was telling the truth, then Flowey had seen him in action, more than likely first hand, and boy, people who had the  privilege to see Sans in action never lived to tell the tale. " **i think you have some explainin' to do."**

 _"ThErE's nO tImE!"_ Flowey couldn't help his budding irritation. This was going as well as he hoped. Freaking _peachy_. "I don't know how much you remember, and we don't have time to sit down and talk over _scones_ and fucking _tea_!"

A thundering noise rang throughout the woods, emanating from the Ruins. Both monsters whipped their heads in the direction. Flowey didn't try to stop the colorful curse that left his lips. " _Listen to me._ There's a human here. You _need_ to kill her and stop her from going forward." Despite his shivering stem and the pain he felt from his still missing HP, Flowey tried his best to keep his voice rational and level. " ** _Kill_ ** her. If she loads, _kill her again_. Take her soul to Asgore. Make someone else take it if you feel too lazy, **I don't care**. But you **_must_ ** stop her. For everyone, _including_ your brother." If anything could possibly prompt the skeleton into action, it'd be mentioning his brother's name. There just wasn't any time. She was here and closer to gaining even more LOVE the moment she entered the forest full of monsters.

Before the skeleton could even try to say anything as a reply, the golden flower bolted back from the hole he came, and Sans could tell he was long gone. Sans bit back a curse before teleporting to the woods near the door to the ruins, just in time to catch a glimpse of Frisk. She was wearing different clothes from what she usually did, going for an attire that looked more at home at a beach than in a frozen wasteland, but she didn't seem bothered by it. She looked content and peaceful as she walked, a ghost of a smile on her face. Sans let his body go on autopilot. Repeating a song and dance he had done countless times in the past as his mind became a flurry of emotions.

Damn it all... Sans understood everything Flowey was saying, but couldn't register the meanings of his words. What was he talking about? _Kill Frisk_? Did Flowey not remember the surface then? Kill Frisk... _for everyone_? For _Papyrus_?

How did Flowey know about his blue magic? Teleporting around, sure. He could give him and over half the Underground that. Maybe even using blue magic to grab something out of reach or the likes, even though he tried to be alone when he used it. He'd give Flowey that as well.

 _The snapping of a tree branch._

But the Blasters?! Even for the humans he hunted he reserved his bone attacks, and never the Blasters. How did the little weed come across that information? What had he done that let him know that very tight-lipped secret? _What_ had he _done_? _Who had Flowey **hurt** that made Sans think Blasters were an appropriate choice?!_ What did he know and what did he remember? And even knowing what he had done, what made Flowey think the best course of action was to ask Sans for help, in the middle of Snowdin, hurt and missing health? What the hell was going on?!

Could Frisk...?

Could sweet, small and innocent Frisk really be...

 _The loud crunching of snow between the silence._

No way. This was the Determined little girl that never raised a hand to harm anyone. The human that was thrust into a cave full of monsters out for her head on a plate yet she made sure to show each of them her mercy. The savior of the Underground.

But she had placed everyone back underground. She erased the memories of her adoptive family as well as her closest friends.

She had to have a reason! She wouldn't do that... just because she felt like it.

This was Frisk.

This was _Frisk._

 **"Human."**

This was his _little sister_.

* * *

She was freezing. She was damp.

She could feel everything.

She heard another voice.

A... human...? Was that what she was...?

* * *

A huge grin.

* * *

 **"Don't you know how to greet a new pal?"**

 _She couldn't be..._

* * *

That voice was... so familiar.

Familiar...? What did that word mean?

She hurt on the inside.

* * *

This was going to be so much _fun_.

* * *

 _Dangerous...?_

" **Turn around and shake my hand."**

Being a skeleton, breathing was a particular human necessity he could do without. However, living on the surface for so long, Sans had adopted a similar habit. Inhaling and exhaling air. It helped pass the time as he learned to do so. Not to mention it was something to keep his mind occupied with at times. Most importantly, it helped him blend in alongside humans should he cover his body with long-sleeved garments if he didn't want to stand out in cities with less monsters inhabiting it. He never realized he had stopped breathing, air still swirling alongside his magic inside his rib cage, waiting for Frisk to turn around and face him until he saw her with her trademark curious yet kind smile. He felt his extremely tense shoulders slightly relax.

How could he not when he saw Frisk laugh loudly at his whoopee-cushion trick, her chocolate brown eyes twinkling alongside the falling snow?

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry for the year-long wait. Gosh this was hard... But hope it was long enough. I really dislike the end and might change it with the next chapter...

I have many other stories I have to return to, though... Sorry if updates aren't as quick as you'd like!

See you hopefully soon.


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